What can you say about Sarah that her friends and family don't already know?

Absolutely nothing...
      She was like an open book, and that's what makes Sarah's life such a testimonial to her kind, gentle and loving spirit.  She was willing to love unconditionally every day of her life. She had faith in God.

Her birth was celebrated with all the expectations of what life would be like with a daughter, granddaughter, Goddaughter, sister, niece and so on.  I remember when Debbie laid baby Sarah on her bed for the first time the day she came home from the hospital.  She was beautiful even then, and I knew she would be such a blessing to so
many  people in so many ways.  "Sugar and spice, and everything nice" became a reality when Sarah came into our lives.

I can still picture her as a child wandering up and down her driveway with a pad and pencil in hand, taking notes and talking to herself and planning who-knows what.  This was serious business to Sarah.  Knowing her concern for all creatures  great and small, she was probably thinking about a pet that might need some special attention, or someone else's hurt feelings, or maybe an incident that she needed to work through.  But it was inevitable that she was thinking about her relationships with others with loving intentions and a soft heart.

Watching her grow up as the second child with an older and younger brother meant the usual ups and downs and bumps and bruises, but Sarah was closer to her brothers than words can explain.  The bond between her and her brothers just constantly grew stronger.  She always worried about them and what they were up to, and more than anything else she wanted them to be happy.  But that was typical Sarah.  She wanted to make sure everyone was happy.  In return, her brothers supported and loved her during her best times and also through the worst.

During Sarah's teenage years, Bruce & Debbie had the same fears that all parents have...
Will she make the right friends?  Will she date the right boys?  Will she find her way in making the right choices out in the world?  Put all those fears together with the fact that their daughter had turned into a stunning beauty  with an innocent and gentle spirit, and everyone could well understand their concerns.  But Sarah worked through those growing up years like all of us: she learned for herself what was good and right, and she became a young adult with a strong faith in God for her earthly journey.  In a card I made for Bruce and Debbie before Sarah and Brad's wedding, I expressed my joy and pride in them for having raised such a precious daughter, and how wonderful it was that Sarah could so freely share with them her deepest  hopes and fears.  That is a sense of love, pride an joy  that even death cannot take away.

Sarah not only had close family and loving relatives, but the number of young friends that knew and loved her is remarkable.  It is certainly apparent that her gift of giving to others was, and is, being repaid to her by their deeply felt grief and their love and support of Brad, his parents and Sarah's family.  I know that Sarah's hope for you would be to live your lives in a way that will make this earth a better place than you found it, and to eventually let go of your terrible grief and remember her with a smile and good memories.  Remember her beauty, inside and out.

What can we say about Sarah's outer beauty?  She was definitely a woman who had the winning gene pool ticket when it came to her flawless figure and beautiful face.  The incredible truth is that Sarah was never conceited about appearance, and probably never understood how truly beautiful she was.  Her looks were secondary to the inner beauty that emanated through her radiant smile.

To everyone's delight, Sarah and Brad found true love in each other and confirmed that before God, friends and family on their wedding day only a little over a week ago.  Everyone could see the obvious devotion and oneness that they shared.  Having been there, and now looking at pages of wedding photos, one can ony conclude that Sarah's wedding day was the happiest day of her life.  What a blessing that this day of love and happiness occurred!  For those of us that were there, what a treasure it will be to carry the memories of that day with us for the rest of our lives!

The thing that keeps coming to my mind is how Sarah just had a way of making everyone else feel like the special one.  Even on her wedding day, I got the overwhelming sense that I was special, because she had that unbelievable way of making me (and everyone else around her) feel that we were so special.  And I truly believe that we were.  When Sarah's focus was on you, she sincerely made you feel like the most important part of her life at that moment.  She did not hesitate to show and tell you how much she loved you no matter where you were  or what was going on around you.  Sarah knew how to be present in each moment and had more than enough love for all.

What can we learn from Sarah's tragic death?
We can again be reminded that human beauty can be appreciated not only by our external features, but most importantly by how we show our inner beauty.
We can learn to more clearly value the richness of our relationships with the people we see every day as well as those we love that are far away.
We can learn that on a dayly basis, saying I love you and giving a kiss and a hug should be our standard good-bye, as it always was for Sarah.
We can clearly see from Sarah's death that she  knew exactly how to live life -by pursuing her dreams and by living life to the fullest.  She would want us all to do the same.

By putting the feelings of others before her own with a compassionate, loving and gentle spirit, Sarah showed us the way she gained richness in her life and a sure place in heaven.
In our hearts and minds, Sarah will remain always young and always beautiful in so many ways.  Even through the pain and suffering of dealing with her death, we must certainly be grateful to God for giving us Sarah to travel even this short distance with each of us on  our own earthly journey.
God Bless Sarah and all her gifts to us.